James Kenyon is a man of honest pleasures.
He doesn’t seek out extravagant meals or expensive trips overseas, or harbour any interest in climbing the corporate ladder. He makes and plays music, plain and simple.
“I like playing,” he says, with all the quiet pride of a man who has discovered his life’s work. “I get a real energy from it. I often forget how much I enjoy it before I start touring. It’s like, when I’m on the road again, I go, ‘Oh yeah, that’s right – I love this.’”
Although his genuine love of writing and performing is apparent across all his work, it’s particularly striking on his new release Imagine You Are Driving. Described as a “soundtrack to an as-yet-unmade great Australian road movie”, the record emanates genuine warmth, along with a distinctly Australian brand of ever-so-gentle humour. Tracks like ‘The Motorbike Song’ beg to be played live, and truly benefit from being belted out in front of a crowd.
But it wasn’t always so easy for Kenyon to make his art, and he has learnt a lot over the course of a career that has seen him enjoy both ecstatic highs as well as his fair share of lows. “I think early on when I didn’t really know what I was doing, I was bumping into a lot of unforeseen problems and learning the ropes,” he says. “But now I’ve done enough touring and playing to know how to do it.”
Part of that learning curve has involved Kenyon fully embracing his stage fright. Though he used to battle performative jitters, he now takes them in his stride, ensuring they aid and inform his playing style. “Oh, I’m always nervous when playing. The few times I haven’t gotten nervous, I’ve played pretty badly. So now when I don’t get nervous, I get nervous about not being nervous,” he laughs.
“I think nerves kind of put you on edge and they kinda get you alert and your reflexes are good. You just play with more of an edge, and you just function at a slightly higher level when you’re nervous. I mean, the few times I’ve played without nerves I’ve done stupid things like just forgot lyrics, and my hands don’t do what they’re supposed to do. It’s a funny thing, because you also don’t want to appear highly strung.”
Despite all the inner anxiety that might be going through his mind as he stands in front of the audience, Kenyon’s shows are noteworthy for the calm they inspire. He projects a kind of sonic ease – so much so that after he conquers his jitters, he often finds himself sinking deep into the tune.
“When I’m playing a song, I’m really living it, and thinking about the lyrics. I’m in the performance. That’s when I’m best. Often in a song I’ll just drift out. I’ll either be thinking about the next song, or focusing on the crowd, or if someone’s talking really loudly I’ll maybe notice them. I’ll be trying to stay in the song as much as possible, but that’s sometimes a bit of a battle.”
Ultimately, it’s strikingly evident that Kenyon is someone who lives and breathes his art. He’s not a musician who is too precious about his work, or treats it like a trinket to be occasionally taken out. Everything inspires his songs, even chatting away with the BRAG. “Doing an interview was actually a really good way to start the day,” he says as the conversation wraps up. “I’m going to go off and write a song now.”
Imagine You Are Driving by James Kenyon is available nowthrough Little Lake/MGM; and onWednesday December 7 he plays Gasoline Pony, with Emma Anglesey.
